The broad U.S. stock market put an exclamation point on its record-breaking year on the final trading day of 2013, powering to yet another all-time high and posting its biggest percentage gain since 1997, or 16 years ago.
"Good to the last drop," is the way Dwayne Adams, a certified financial planner at Adams Wealth Management Group, summed up the best year for the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index since 1997. The closely tracked benchmark index rose 29.6%, a mega-move that will be reflected in much fatter retirement account balances when investors rip open their statements in coming weeks.
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The superlative returns posted by all of the nation's best-known indexes tell the story of a stock market in full-blown bull market mode, as the bull nears its fifth birthday in March. Blue-chip stocks skyrocketed in 2013. So did large-cap names. Small-company stocks posted big gains, too. As did tech stocks, which partied like it was 1999.
Stocks surged on the back of an improving economy, unprecedented stimulus from the Federal Reserve and a knack for dodging possible sinkholes. The stock market sidestepped the "fiscal cliff" at the start of the year, the Boston Marathon bombings, a near war with Syria, a government shutdown and a jump in yields on long-term government bonds to their highest level since July 2011. Wall Street also made peace with the Federal Reserve's decision to begin dialing back its market-friendly stimulus in the new year.
Performance statistics tell the story best.
• The Dow Jones industrial average finished the year up 26.5%, its best return since 1995. It closed the year out with its 52nd record close of the year, rising 72.37 points to 16,576.66. That pushed the bull market to an even more notable milestone: At! Tuesday's close the Dow is more than 10,000 points above its 2009 bear market low -- 10,030 points, to be exact.
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• The S&P 500 soared nearly 30%, its best performance since a 31.01% jump in 1997. The large-company index also closed out the year with a fresh record, only the sixth time that has happened in its history, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. It posted 45 record closes, the most in 15 years.
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* The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite was the biggest winner in 2013, racking up a gain of 38.3%, its seventh-biggest annual gain ever and its best since 2009 when it rebounded sharply from its bear-market low.
• The small-cap Russell 2000 also posted a 30%-plus gain and finished at a new record high. For the year, it skyrocketed 37%, marking its best annual return since 2003.
"2013 was a great year," says Gary Alexander of the Navellier mutual fund family. "The year was far better than most pundits thought possible last January."
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